Falcons Running Out of Options with Kirk Cousins According to Yahoo

As the offseason quarterback game of musical chairs winds down, Kirk Cousins could be the one left standing. Jobs are filling up around the NFL while the Atlanta Falcons wait for a trade partner to try and recoup some of the $90-million guaranteed they gave Cousins a year ago.

The $90-million guaranteed goes to $100-million guaranteed if Cousins is still on the roster on Monday, but his $10-million roster bonus doesn't hit the books until 2026. The Falcons seem willing to play chicken with Cousins and other teams by keeping him beyond Monday's deadline.

Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports reports that the Falcons are willing to bet $10 million that a team in desperate need of a veteran quarterback will eventually come to the table with a trade package.

“I was a little surprised Wednesday when I heard definitively from two league sources that the Falcons wouldn’t be releasing Cousins by Sunday to avoid triggering $10 million in fully guaranteed 2026 salary via a roster bonus,” wrote Robinson on Yahoo Sports. “The Falcons see that there aren’t enough veteran bridge quarterbacks to go around right now, and they’re not inclined to pay Cousins his guaranteed 2025 salary of $27.5 million and resolve some other team’s problem by releasing him.”

When Russell Wilson was in a similar situation with the Denver Broncos following the 2023 season, there were two-key differences. First, Sean Payton really didn't want Wilson around. Payton is a control freak on offense, and that was always a bad match for Wilson's free-lancing style of play.

Second, Wilson was guaranteed $37 million in 2025 if he was still on the roster on the fifth day of the new league year of 2024. Cousins's number is only $10 million. That seems to be a risk more palatable to the Falcons brass.

Robinson sees one-key trade partner with the Atlanta Falcons right now - the Cleveland Browns. That could change with injuries on a longer timeline, but if Atlanta wants to enter summer and fall camp without a disgruntled Cousins in the quarterback room, the Browns may be the best option.

"The exit here is the offering of some kind of asset the Falcons would be happy with, at which point they’d surrender Cousins via trade and pay most if not all of his 2025 salary. And the target seems to be the Browns," wrote Robinson.

"Meanwhile, the Browns’ response is to do what they’re doing right now: Lining up a visit with Wilson, scheduled for Thursday, and keeping their options open with a back-burner player like Joe Flacco and potential draft options."

Cousins has already become a distraction to the Atlanta Falcons. There isn't anyone that's going to bail the Falcons out from the $27.5-million guaranteed he's still owed this season, but they may be able to claw back something in return.

The Browns have quarterback problems of their own, and shipping a Day 3 pick and a few million dollars to Atlanta might be their best option in 2025. It would certainly help ease the blow of Cousins's pending dead cap number and clear the room for Michael Penix Jr.